The Shakedown, a student-run cafe on Pitzer’s campus, was unable to receive any funding during Pitzer Senate’s budget hearings.

Pomona to display globe at graduation for international students

In lieu of displaying flags for international students at commencement, Pomona College will display a globe showing students’ home nations, Pomona spokesperson Mark Kendall said via email.

The countries will be identified in blue, “providing a backdrop for photos and family conversations,” Kendall said. The globe will “serve as recognition for our international students for years to come.”

The globe will be displayed at the Smith Campus Center following commencement and be updated on an annual basis.

Pomona previously sparked outrage and a student petition with more than 700 signatures when it decided last month not to fly flags from international students’ home countries at commencement, as it had at its 2017 and 2018 ceremonies.

Pomona President G. Gabrielle Starr said at an ASPC meeting April 11 that flying the flags raised numerous political, cultural and logistical challenges, prompting Pomona to end the practice.

“This [decision not to fly the flags] erases immigrant communities and other students who don’t feel represented by the U.S. flag, culturally or otherwise,” International Student Mentors Program head mentors Laura Haetzel PO ’19, Noor Dhingra PO ’20 and Cheryl Yau PO ’19 said in the petition. ISMP did not respond to a request for comment regarding the globe.

— Marc Rod

Shakedown fails to renew status on time, left out of Pitzer Senate budget

The Shakedown, a student-run cafe at Pitzer College, failed to renew its organizational status by the Pitzer Student Senate budget hearings deadline and, as a result, isn’t currently included in the senate’s budget proposal for next academic year, according to James Karsten PZ ’22, the senate’s current treasurer and incoming vice president of finance.

Although it does earn some money from food sales, the Shakedown is mainly subsidized by the senate, Karsten said. It received $6,700 in funding for the 2018-19 academic year, according to this year’s budget report.

Though a recharter was submitted within a week after the deadline, the Shakedown will still have to wait until the fall semester to apply for funding.

Changes to the proposed budget, including adding funds for the Shakedown, would require a senator to propose an amendment at a senate meeting, but “it’s hard to amend it, especially for the amount that they would want,” Karsten said. Pitzer Senate will vote on its budget Sunday.

The Shakedown could theoretically continue to operate into the fall without receiving Senate funding, but this would push the cafe into debt, Karsten said.

Student Health Services unable to conduct X-rays due to lack of staff

Student Health Services, which has been plagued by chronic staff shortages, will be unable to conduct X-rays for the remainder of the semester as the office’s X-ray technician is taking a medical leave, SHS administrative services manager Louise Haas said in an email to students Wednesday.

Students on the Student Health Insurance Plan should still visit SHS for a referral to an outside radiology service if they need an X-ray, Haas said.

— Marc Rod

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Pomona adding deans for each class

Pomona College is working to implement deans for each class and has already selected first- and second-year deans, Dean of Students Avis Hinkson said via email. The school is currently looking for one dean for the junior and senior classes.

“The class deans will be working closely with the students in their classes, hosting events for the class and addressing issues of interest to each class year,” Hinkson said. “[We] are excited about the opportunities this new model offers to better connect students with a specific dean.”

Assistant deans Anthony Ferreria and Paola Beas have been selected as deans for the sophomore and first-year classes, respectively.

Pomona has posted an application for the new senior associate dean position and has engaged Koya Leadership Partners, an executive search firm that serves higher education institutions, to help with the search. One of the position’s duties, among others, is listed as “shape and develop an innovative, new support network for [juniors and seniors].”

Ferreria, who started at Pomona this year, was previously an assistant dean of students at Columbia University and a sophomore advisor at New York University.

“My focus at Pomona College will be to address matters relating to the sophomore experience such as preparing to declare a major, deciding to study abroad [and] overcoming the ‘sophomore slump,’” Ferreria said. “I particularly want to instill a sense of class community among the student population, which I feel that the class dean structure will do.”

Paola Beas has been an assistant dean at Pomona for the past two years.

“The first semester can be challenging for students, so as the first-year class dean I am looking forward to supporting them during their transition to college,” Beas said. “I have an interest in practical wellness and hope to continue to host wellness workshops/events throughout campus.”

— Ben Reicher

CMC hires new student affairs administrators

Claremont McKenna College is hiring two new administrators to fill vacancies in the dean of students’ office created by promotions earlier in the year, CMC Dean of Students Dianna Graves announced in an email to students Wednesday.

Victor Diaz, a housing administrator at Boston University, will be joining CMC as the new assistant director of residential life July 1. Diaz was born in Mexico, has a bachelor’s degree from Stetson University and a master’s degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

“His appreciation for and understanding of the values and experiences at a small, private liberal arts institution was evident throughout his interview process,” Graves said. “At his core, he is a relationship and community builder.”

MaryKate Jacobs, who is currently studying for her master’s degree in college student personnel at University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will become the assistant director of student activities in June.

She is currently an adviser to the University of Tennessee’s Campus Events Board, and has experience teaching a first-year seminar and as an orientation academic adviser. She has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.

Graves said the school conducted national searches to fill both roles.